THIE

THIRTY-SECOND BOOK

OF

ORLANDO FURIOSO.

REMEMBRANCE, what I late prepar❜d to tell,
What some new chance could from my mind expel,
Again recalls--a story that could make

A fair-one wretched for Rogero's sake;
And with a deadlier arrow pierce her breast,
Than that which Richardetto's words impress'd.
Of this I meant to speak, but midst the thought
Another subject good Rinaldo brought:

Then Guido drew no less my Muse astray
With new adventures to beguile her way.
Now this, now that by turns attention gain'd
And ill my memory Bradamant retain’d.

To her again I turn, before I tell

What 'twixt Rinaldo and Gradasso fell:
But first king Agramant the tale recalis

Of him to speak, who drew to Arli's walls

10.

15

Ver. 14. --Rinaldo and Gradasso-] He returns to these, Book xxxiii. ver. 561.

Ver. 15.

-king Agramant--] See Book xxxi. ver. 605, where Agramant, totally defeated, was obliged to retreat to Arli.

The relics of his host that 'scap'd by flight
The sword and horrors of that dreadful night.
Plac'd on a river near the surgy main,
Afric in front, and near the coasts of Spain,
The city could relieve th' afflicted powers,

20

Could yield them succour and supply with stores,

Through all the kingdom to recruit his force

Marsilius wrote to muster foot and horse

Whate'er their kind: at Barcelona arm'd

25

For zeal or hire, full many vessels swarm'd

Well mann'd for fight: meantime in deep deoate
King Agramant at daily council sate.

To Rodomont he sent, but sent in vain,

With proffers, would the warrior rise again
In Afric's cause, to give him for his bride
Almontes' daughter, to himself ally'd,
And with her hand unite to Sarza's power
The mighty kingdom of Oran in dower.

The haughty chief refus'd the bridge to leave,
Where, many a knight accustom'd to bereave
Of arms and vest, he these with pomp display'd

35

To deck the tomb that held the murder'd maid*.

40

But not like Rodomont Marphisa left

Her king at need, of every aid bereft:

Soon as she heard that all the martial train

Of Agramant were captives, fled, or slain;

* Isabella.

Ver. 37. The haughty chief--] See Book xxxv. ver. 296. where Rodomont appears again.

That Charles had won, and with the remnant force 45

Her king at Arli lay, she bent her course

To Arli strait, with proffers large to spend

Her wealth and life his honour to defend.

With her Brunello (late her fetter'd slave)

She brought, and to the king uninjur❜d gave.

50

Ten days and nights she kept him fill'd with dread,

The fatal noose impending o'er his head.

But when she thither found no friend repair
By force to free him, or to save by prayer,

In such base blood she scorn'd to soil her hands,
And freed his trembling limbs from galling bands.
Well may you deem from aid like hers receiv'd,
What heart-felt joy the drooping king reliev'd;
How much he priz'd it (to Brunello's woe)

55

He meant her wretched prisoner's fate should show: 60
The sentence she enforc'd, himself resum❜d,
And freely to the tree Brunello doom'd;
Then in a lonely wood, of life bereft,

His corps a prey to crows and vultures left.
Rogero, who before at equal need

From deadly cords his caitiff neck had freed,

In his sick tent now pale and wounded laid, (So will'd high Heaven) no more could yield him aid'; And when the tidings came, they came too late;

Thus, without friend, Brunello met his fate.

Meanwhile impatient of the long delay,

Had Bradamant accus'd each tardy day,

That twice ten times must dawn, ere face to face
She sees her knight the Christian faith embrace.

65

70

Ver. 71. Meanwhile impatient-] He returns to Agramant and Marphisa, Book xxxv. ver. 486.

Less slow each lagging hour to him returns
Who pines in prison, or in exile mourns,
'Till freed he lives, or sees in prospect rise
His dear-lov'd country to his longing eyes.

75

Sick with suspense she chides each heavenly steed,
Now Ethon, now Pyrois' lingering speed;

80

Now thinks some chance the rolling wheels have stay'd
Of Phoebus' car, beyond its wont delay'd,

To her more lengthen'd seem'd each day and night,
Than that great day, when Heaven's meridian light
The * Hebrew stop; or that fam'd night design'd
To give a young Alcides to mankind..

How oft with envy in their secret place

She view'd the dormouse, bear, and badger race

* Joshua.

85

Ver. 80. Now Ethon, now Pyrois' lingering speed;] Names of two of the four horses that are feigned to draw the chariot of the sun : Thus Ovid,

Interea volucres Pyrois, Eous et Ethon,
Solis equi, quartusque Phlegon......

Met. B. ii.

Ver. 88. She view'd the dormouse, bear, and badger race Doze out the months:] The common opinion is, that these animals sleep a great part of the year without taking suste

nance.

"Towards the approach of the cold season, the dormice form. little magazines of nuts and acorns, and having laid in their hoard, shut themselves up for the winter. As soon as they feel the first advances of the cold, they prepare to lessen its effect, by rolling: themselves up in cl ball in this manner they continue, usually asleep, but oftentimes waking, for above five months in the year; their nests are lined with moss, grass, and dead leaves. The bear retires to some cavern or hollow of some enormous old tree, where it passes some months of the winter without provisions, or without ever stirring abroad, but is not entirely deprived of sensation like the bat or dormouse. The badger is a solitary animal, and digs itself a deep hole with great assiduity, where it sleeps the greater part of its time, particularly in winter."

Goldsmith's History of the Earth and animated Nature, Vol. iv.

Doze out the months: with these she fain would take

A long unbroken sleep, nor ever wake

To light or sense, till her returning knight
Should call her once again to sense and light.

90

Now here, now there, she shifts her restless head
On downy plumes whence Sleep was ever fled :
Oft was she wont to watch the breaking skies,
And see, with eager gaze, the morn arise;
When Tithon's spouse, o'er every fleecy cloud
The lilies white and blushing roses strow'd:
Nor less she long'd, when full reveal'd the morn,
To see the stars again the skies adorn.

95

100

Now, fill'd with hope, she waits each hour to hear
Some messenger proclaim Rogero near.

Oft to a tower she climbs, that prospect yields

Of tufted forests and extended fields.

If from afar she marks the gleaming light

105

Of arms, or aught that speaks a coming knight,

She thinks her plighted spouse Rogero nigh,
And clears her brow and wipes her tearful eye:
If one unarm'd, or one on foot she views,
She hopes some messenger with gentle news.

110

To meet her knight her armour now she takes,
And hastening to the plain the hill forsakes:
No knight she meets; then thinks a different way
To Mount Albano might his steps convey.

Ver. 97. When Tithon's spouse, ---] Aurora, who falling in love with Tithonus, son of Laomedon, brother to Iriam king of Troy, carried him off and took him for her husband: of this marriage was born Memnon, who coming to the aid of Priam, was slain by Achilles.